This 1965 album, “Lucky Strikes” is probably Lucky Thompson’s most known album. A very interesting point that I would like to [...]

This 1965 album, “Lucky Strikes” is probably Lucky Thompson’s most known album. A very interesting point that I would like to touch on about Lucky Thompson and have noticed many greats like him, is the under appreciation of his own talents. It seems that he, being a perfectionist, was never 100% satisfied with his playing and always questioned if he could have focused more on his performances. This strict self evaluating/critiquing is present in most great musicians and only helps them strive to greater heights. Its a thirst for more knowledge and experimentation that helps the great ones propel over the others. Its total devotion to their instrument and relentless practice that make them legends. This album is a perfect example as he perfects the art of playing both the tenor and soprano saxophones. Make sure you add this album to your library!

About the album:

Lucky Strikes album for sale by Lucky Thompson was released Jul 01, 1991 on the Original Jazz Classics label. Digitally remastered by Joe Tarantino (1987, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley California). Lucky Strikes buy CD music This CD reissue serves as a perfect introduction to the talents of the underrated saxophonist Lucky Thompson. Lucky Strikes songs Heard on four songs apiece on tenor and soprano (he was one of the first bop-oriented soprano players), Thompson plays two standards and six originals in a quartet with pianist Hank Jones, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Connie Kay. Lucky Strikes album for sale The playing time on this straight reissue of an earlier LP is a bit brief (just over 38 minutes), but the quality is quite high. Lucky Strikes CD music Thompson’s soprano solos in particular are quite memorable……Read More

Biography of Lucky Thompson (By Jason Ankeny-AllMusic.com):

Born in Columbia, SC, on June 16, 1924, tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson bridged the gap between the physical dynamism of swing and the cerebral intricacies of bebop, emerging as one of his instrument’s foremost practitioners and a stylist par excellence. Eli Thompson’s lifelong nickname — the byproduct of a jersey, given him by his father, with the word “lucky” stitched across the chest — would prove bitterly inappropriate: when he was five, his mother died, and the remainder of his childhood, spent largely in Detroit, was devoted to helping raise his younger siblings. Thompson loved music, but without hope of acquiring an instrument of his own, he ran errands to earn enough money to purchase an instructional book on the saxophone, complete with fingering chart. He then carved imitation lines and keys into a broom handle, teaching himself to read music years before he ever played an actual sax. According to legend, Thompson finally received his own saxophone by accident — a delivery company mistakenly dropped one off at his home along with some furniture, and after graduating high school and working briefly as a barber, he signed on with Erskine Hawkins’ ‘Bama State Collegians, touring with the group until 1943, when he joined Lionel Hampton and settled in New York City.

Soon after his arrival in the Big Apple, Thompson was tapped to replace Ben Webster during his regular gig at the 52nd Street club the Three Deuces — Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Art Tatum were all in attendance at Thompson’s debut gig, and while he deemed the performance a disaster (a notorious perfectionist, he was rarely if ever pleased with his work), he nevertheless quickly earned the respect of his peers and became a club fixture. After a stint with bassist Slam Stewart, Thompson again toured with Hampton before joining singer Billy Eckstine’s short-lived big band that included Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Blakey — in other words, the crucible of bebop. But although he played on some of the earliest and most influential bop dates, Thompson never fit squarely within the movement’s paradigm — his playing boasted an elegance and formal power all his own, with an emotional depth rare among the tenor greats of his generation. He joined the Count Basie Orchestra in late 1944, exiting the following year while in Los Angeles and remaining there until 1946, in the interim playing on and arranging a series of dates for the Exclusive label. Thompson returned to the road when Gillespie hired him to replace Parker in their epochal…..Read More

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